New York City Councilwoman Shahana Hanif blasted Mayor Eric Adams (D) for his temporary tax-supported immigrant housing policies, suggesting instead that taxpayers pony up for permanent housing for immigrants.
On Thursday, Hanif accused Adams of not wanting “New Yorkers to be happy” and denying them the chance to enjoy “permanent, dignified housing.”
“The administration just does not want New Yorkers to be happy — plain and simple,” the Democrat told NY1.
Adams has been working to enforce limits on shelter time for illegal aliens, threatening to evict them after 30 days for singles and 60 days for families. Adams began handing out his first eviction notices in January.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Despite the evictions, many of the evicted immigrants are able to simply re-apply for spots in the shelter system, so they are not necessarily automatically blocked from shelters once evicted.
However, the revolving door is not good enough for Hanif. She wants the taxpayers to give out permanent housing to illegals.
“What we’re witnessing is an administration that does not want people who have been warehoused in our shelter system to be moving into permanent, dignified housing,” Hanif exclaimed, adding, “Everybody deserves a home, no matter when they showed up.”
At a press conference, Hanif blasted Adams and called for a complete end to the time limit on public housing under the state’s right-to-shelter rules and touted her “Stop Shelter Evictions Act” to end the time limits.
“All New Yorkers, no matter when they arrive, deserve equity, not harm,” Hanif exclaimed, equating illegal aliens to “New Yorkers,” according to CBS News. “What’s happening to children is particularly inhumane.”
In other comments, she railed against the time limits and asked “why adults just getting their lives started here after trekking thousands of miles in the jungle from a traumatic homeland unto a place where they want to re-start a life with the opportunity for democracy” are instead faced with Adams’ policies of casting them out of shelters after only a few months.
“This mayor,” she said accusatorially, “has created a separate and unequal shelter system for asylum seekers.”
More from the city councilwoman
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“Mayor Adams,” she hectored, “you have the time to eliminate these cruel, inhumane, unjust directives now.”
Hanif was born in New York to immigrant Bangladeshi parents and was the first Muslim elected to the 51-member city council when she won her first term in 2021. She lives with her cat, Babe.
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